Jennifer Bush: Southern California should get to work on de-sal

As I was reading the letters to the editor, I was happy to see “Desalinization works” (Aug. 7). This is not the first or last letter we will see on desalination. I’m amazed our state government has not recognized the absolute necessity of this process. We in the North do not want to keep sending more and more water to the parched desert in the south. Let them build desalination plants and sustain themselves. It would be a relief to our natural watersheds and allow them to replenish.

We may even eventually have full lakes, reservoirs and maybe a few new ones. Where would they get their water if we split the state, which has come up more than a few times? Only problem is no one in the middle wants to be part of SoCal. Twin Tunnels and bullet trains are SoCal dreams, not ours. We keep wasting money on pipe dreams instead of taking our state to the next level of sustainability. Sorry Gov. Brown, you have it wrong.

Editor’s note: A desalination plant capable of producing 50 million gallons of fresh water daily is scheduled to begin operation near San Diego later this year. Smaller desalination plants are already in operation in Monterey, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Catalina. Diamond Valley Reservoir in Riverside County is the only new reservoir capable of containing 1 million acre feet completed in the past 40 years.

This story was originally published August 10, 2015 at 12:50 PM with the headline "Jennifer Bush: Southern California should get to work on de-sal."